


eternity

by armethaumaturgy



Category: Devilman (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Makeup, akira doesnt die thank you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 16:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13392069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armethaumaturgy/pseuds/armethaumaturgy
Summary: “Don’t cry,” Akira shushes him. Seeing Ryo like this is… unsettling. Had he been holding this all inside of himself, all the time he didn’t know he was Satan? Were all those apathetic masks just that? Masks to keep himself safe from this?“There’s nowhere to leave even if I wanted to.”





	eternity

**Author's Note:**

> im coping thanks

“I thought love didn’t exist.”

_ It does. _

“Therefore sadness doesn’t exist.”

_ It does! _

“But I was wrong. Akira, why won’t you say anything?” Ryo asks, clutching at his breast as if digging his fingers into the flesh would help alleviate… whatever this is he’s feeling.

He curls up on his side, peering over Akira’s bloody torso, looking into his eyes. They appear glazed over, as if he’s about to cry again at any second. “You already know what I’d say,” is the explanation he offers, voice hoarse. His legs are slowly merging back together, but even so he lays there motionless.

Everything is in ruins around them. A measly rock they lay on and a sea of red as far as the eye can see. They’re all alone on this planet — or what’s left of it. The stars twinkle in the sky, almost like they’re all laughing at him;  _ look at us, we’re still here, just like you! but look, you’re all alone! _

But that’s not right, either. Ryo is right there, as always. And for once in his life, he looks lost. His brows are creased in a way he’s never seen them until now, his hand clutching his chest is tight and trembling, the small wings protruding from his head twitch in their need to hide his face.

Akira had lost everything. His family, his friends, all humans are gone now. The only one he still has is Ryo, in all his radiant glory.

He wants to muster up anger, to yell at Ryo, to scream and fight him again, but the outcome would be the same even if he did. He’d only survived thus far thanks to the help from other Devilmen. 

Tears spill from his eyes, dripping down his cheeks in glistening rivulets, eyes reflecting the ceaseless sky and the shooting stars above them. “You’re crying, Ryo,” he manages.

From besides him, Ryo starts laughing, broken chuckles punctuated by hiccups. There are tears rolling down his nose as well, dripping down onto Akira’s face and mixing with his own. He doesn’t stop laughing, even as he runs out of breath he shouldn’t even have at this point and ends up with just his shoulders silently shaking.

“Yeah,” Ryo chokes out, very literally falling onto Akira’s chest. His weight pushes down on his unclosed wounds and he has to force down a sound that threatens to rip from his throat. “Akira, Akira,” Ryo mutters into the crook of his neck.

His wings spread and curl around them like a cocoon, like he’s trying to shield them from the eyes of God himself. There’s nothing else to hide from. The feathers are soft as silk and Akira lifts a hand to brush along one of the many wings, smoothing over them. “Ryo, why?”

_ Why did you do this? _

“I don’t know,” Ryo says, and if Akira had ever heard wholehearted sincerity from him before, this is it.

“Why did you spare me?” 

“I need you, Akira,” Ryo answers, voice dripping with the sincerity. Akira wants to cry again. 

There’s nothing left. It’s just the two of them. Was it worth it to Ryo, to destroy everything and only leave the two of them? Did he plan for it to turn out like this? Somewhere deep inside of himself, he knows that isn’t true. Ryo had wanted a world of demons, with humans extinct and forgotten. 

“Ryo, I’m still a human,” Akira says, because he is, and no matter what happens, what Ryo does, he will always be one.

Ryo just hums in the back of his throat, still pressed as close to him as physically possible. His breasts are squished against Akira’s chest and childishly, he wonders if they hurt that way.

“Akira,” Ryo breathes as he pulls away, but can it really be called pulling away when he just raises his head so he can look Akira in the eyes? “Akira, there’s something inside of me. There’s something, I’m… I feel… I’m feeling like… Akira, I don’t know what’s going on with me!”

Ryo’s face is more expressive than ever. Instead of the soft lines of apathy and jagged cuts of his grins, there’s tear streaks dried on his cheeks, worry creasing his brow and lips pulled back in a grimace. Akira can’t help but reach up and brush the back of his hand over Ryo’s cheek, wiping the salty lines away.

At the simple gesture, Ryo looks ready to cry again. His head hangs down, hair and feathers obstructing his face. “I love you.”

Akira feels a stab of something deep within himself and he holds Ryo closer, though maybe it’s actually Ryo holding  _ him _ closer with all those wings. “I’ve always loved you, Ryo.” There’s a pause, and then he continues. “You destroyed everything,” he says simply, “You caused a war, and so many casualties. Humans are gone. Demons are gone. There’s nothing, just us. I hate you.”

Ryo just hums again, as if he wasn’t even listening. But he is, and every word is like a stab of a tail, like a knife to his newfound emotions. Demons shouldn’t feel, but no matter how much he tells himself that, it doesn’t change the fact he’s feeling  _ right now _ , and feeling a lot at once.

“Please don’t leave,” Ryo begs, squeezing Akira close to himself, “Please, I can’t do this without you, please don’t leave me alone.”

Akira doesn’t know what to say as Ryo spills himself out, completely without any filters or inhibitions stopping him. He’s so scared of losing Akira.

He supposes the disease called love got to him as well, like it had to Sirene.

“Don’t cry,” Akira shushes him. Seeing Ryo like this is… unsettling. Had he been holding this all inside of himself, all the time he didn’t know he was Satan? Were all those apathetic masks just that? Masks to keep himself safe from this? “There’s nowhere to leave even if I wanted to.”

“Do you want to?”

Ryo waits with a bated breath and it’s Akira’s turn to chuckle. “I don’t want to be alone either. You’ve always been there for me, all this time until the end. I’m mad, I’m hurt, but I don’t want to lose you as well. Not after losing everything else.”

“I’m sorry, Akira,” Ryo mutters.

“You’re the one who changed the most,” Akira tells him as he stares into Ryo’s eyes. They looks like a galaxy on their own now, with uncountable stars twinkling in them. “You’re more human now than you’ve ever been before.”

Ryo swallows down the words he wants to spit in Akira’s face.  _ You’re wrong, how could I be human when I’ve caused you so much grief? There’s nothing human about me. But you, oh God, you’re still so human, even with a demon’s body I’ve thrust upon you, you’re still Akira. _

He doesn’t say any of that. Instead, he swallows and stares into the abyss of Akira’s eyes, seeing himself reflected in them. Their lips meet and it’s no different than any other kiss, except it is, Akira is warm around and under him, there’s nothing around them, and they’d just discovered love.

“I’ll try to be,” is the only thing he can promise Akira at that point.


End file.
